Anthropological Study on Maternal Identity Construction through Biotechnology by Emphasis on Embryo Donation and Surrogate Womb

On the grace of biotechnology, childbearing is possible with no experience of pregnancy, childbirth and lactation. The mediatory role of technology makes the mother-child dual link to a chain of concepts: intended mother, biological mother, surrogate mother and child.Thus, a created distance between mother and child results the lack of maternal identity elements such as genetic link, pregnancy and breastfeeding. Under such circumstances how the maternal identity is constructed? In this article, the pattern of identity construction have been revealed by asking continuous questions about data which have been collected by deep interviewing. The conceptual tools like “self”, “dramatic performance” and “distance” in Mead, Goffman and Simmel theories make it possible to discover expilit connections to articulate identity patterns. The results show that the construction of maternal identity is based on a dual link of mother’s body and fetus during pregrancy, but with the presence of biological surrogate mother in the biothechnology based childbearing cycle, there is everlasting gap between intended mother and child. Thus, although a dramatic pregnancy performance is temporarily successful in relieving the stigma of infertility and making it invisible, the construction of individual and social maternal identity articulates as a stranger through the process of confrontation-doubt-separation.